Process of making yarn and the like



- 111 26 1-92 J Y. 7 H. B. CLOW ET PROCESS OF MAKING YARNAND THE LIKE Filed April 16, 1926 INVENTORJ.

Patented July 26, 1927 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY B. 01.0w nn HARRY L. snow, or LAKEron'r, new HAMPSHIRE.

PROCESS OF MAKING YARN AND THE LIKE.

Application filed April. 16, 1926.

This invention relates to a novel process of melting yarn, it being distinctly understood that we use the notation yarn in a generic sense to include both yarn and thread.

The object of the present invention is to produce yarn having certain novel color characteristics which ma comprise an alternation of two colors, shad es or hues, throughoutthe entire length of the yarn, each color section being of substantial length, from. ten to twelve feet in practice when used for knitting circularly striped stockings and d1: vided from each other by relatively short sections, only a few inches in practice, of a mixture of the two colors. Or the yarn may comprise a like alternation of distinctive variegated mixtures, or a repetition of a se: rites of colors or mixtures in a. prearranged order. These examples will. suggest the nature of the novel yarn produced b practising our process but the scope of to invention, in its broader aspects, comprel'iends the process of making any yarn in which a color pattern having the characteristics described is produced along diilerent sections thereof' while the yarn is being manufactured. Hereinafter the notation .eolor will be used. as inclusive of a single hue .or any stated combination.

lin the preferred process of manufacture all] yarn that is span from the fleece dofi'ed.

from the finisher cardwill be comprised. of difierent colors related to each other in accordance with the color pattern that was determined upon at the time the selection of differently coloredslivers were fed to the finisher card. i

The improved method will be explained with the assistance of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic view, in side elevation, of a conventional finisher card showing a mechanism for feeding slivers thereto with the usual mechanism for acting on the fleece dofi'ed from the card;

Fig. 2 is a detail, in side elevation, of the moving guide of a sliver" feed mechanism showing two slivers of two diflering colors roved therethrough;

Serial No. 102,570.

Fig. 3 is another detail, in plan, showing a pair of spools that may be used for supplying the two slivers of different colors to the feed mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view, in plan showing the manner in which the lap oi slivers, to be fed to the finisher card, is produced to: form transversely striped fleece which is slit to produce rovings for spinning into yarn; and

Fig. 5 illustrates a section of yarn having one of the characteristic color. patterns produced by practising our novel, process.

In practising our novel process the present approved practice may be followed u to and including the production of the s iver from the breaker card. At this point a change in the usual process is introduced. I-leretoiore in the process of making yarn a. single sliver has been fed from a breaker card tothe feed mechanism of the finisher card forming a lap of slivers that is of the same color throughout its length, and hence the yarn that is spun from rovings obtained from the finisher card must necessarily have a single color characteristic throughout its length. In order to produce yarn in which long, adjacent lengths of the same strand are of different colors, or in whichdifl'erent combinations of colors, divided as described, alternate along the length of the strand, it is necessary to provide an. entirely new lap of. slivers to be fed to the finisher card.

There will now follow, as an illustrative example otthe improved process, a description of the manufacture of a yarn formed of alternate long lengths of two differing colors, say blue and buff. A blue sliver 2 and a burl. sliver 3 from difi erenit'breakei' cards (not shown) are wound separately on spools 4 and 5 respectively which are then mounted on a creel or stand 6. differently colored slivers are fed together, as one sliver, to the guide 7 on the guide rods 8' of the feed mechanism 9 of the finisher card 10. Care is taken to present the composite sliver 2-3 to the feed mechanism so that the reciprocating iced guide invariably lays the two differently colored slivers side by side on the feed belts. The lap of slivers that is produced is best illustrated at the right hand end ofFig. 4. As there shown'the movement of the feed guide 7 can ries both slivers 2 and 3 side by side to one edge of-the feed belts, Winds them about the fold plate there provided, then carries them These two Ill) across to the other side, folds there, and so forth, until a composite lap 12 of folded, but loosely laid slivers is built up on the feed belts composed of alternate transverse stripes 13and 14 Colored blue and'b'ufi' respectively, each stripe being composed of fleece doiied from the-card cylinder is illus trated diagrammatically at .15. It will be understood-that the width of the d agonally transverse stripes, which eventually control the length of the section of yarn that is to be of one color, canbe varied at will by a variation in the amount of material provided to form the stripes 13 and 14 of the lap of slivers 12.. Furthermore the transverse stripes which characterize the finisher card fleece 15 may each be of variegated COlO1,f0l one may be variegated and the other plain,-.aceording to the color characteristics of the slivers fed to the finisher card. In fact," by properly selecting the color characteristics of theslivcr and by a variation in the 'number of slivers used to form the stripes of the lap of slivers 12, the color characteristics of the yarn finally produced may be widely varied.

The two-color or striped fleece dotled from the finishercard :cylinder may be treated in any manner desired after it leaves the finisher card. In order to illustratefa completion of the process from this point, 'the fleece 15 is shown as passing through a fleece divider- 10(Fig. 1), then through a conventional rub-apron 17 shown in the l form of a double apron condenser,

and finally the rovings 18 (Fig. 4) thus produced are wound'on spools on a winding frame 19.- The roving spools are transferred to a spinning frame and-the rovings' thereon arethen spun into yarn 20 (Fig. 5) by means of any approved spinning mechanism, this yarn being composed'of long alternate lengths of blue and of buff when the process ispract'iced in accordance with the foregoing detailed description.

Assuming that stockings are to be tabri cated onia circular knitting machine from a single spool of this blue and buff yarn the resultant pattern of the stocking will he alternate rings or hands of blue and of buff, one band merging into the other with an ap pearance that is very pleasing. In other words the very distinct line of demarkation between the color bands, that must be present when knitting from two spools of different colored yarn, is eliminated. Furthermore, this efle'ct is produced by knitting from a single spool of yarn whereas it has been necessary heretofore to produce such effects through ayarn. changing operation. This operation involves a considerable waste of yarn and produces a relatively high percentage of defective goods or seconds which are'eliminated by using yarnmade by our process lt is within the scope of the invention to use this yarn in producing woven fabrics having novel pattern effects.

lVe believe that we are the first to produce by carding and spinning operations, a yarn composed ofsuccessive substantial but definitelengthsiof different colors,or having a repeated color-pattern along its length, so that 'thecolor pattern is repeated or reproducedin a fabric by fabricatingfrom a single spoolof the yarn.

Having thus described the novel method and one mode of practising it when employ.- ing its underlying principle, yet recognizing that some modifications and changes may be made without departing from its spirit and scope, what'is claimed as new, is

'1. The process ofmaking yarn, or the like, which comprises providinga plurality of sliversveach of a diiferent color laying said plurality of slivers together in parallel relation to form a lap of slivers having a repeated longitudinal color pattern, carding said lap to form fleece that is definitely striped transversely inithe color pattern of said lap, forming rovings from longitudinal slittings oftsaid fleece, and spinning said rovmgs into yarn. I I l 2. The process of making yarn, or the like, which'comprises providing two slivers of different colors, laying said two slivers side by side and then folding the composite sliver thus formed upon and parallel to itsell" to produce a lap of slivers having definite transverse stripes which alternate as to color, I carding said lap to form fleecewhile preserving said-definite alternation of colors produced in the lap,slittingsaid fleece Ion gitudinally and rubbing into rovings, and spinning said rovings into yarn."

3. The process-of making yarn, or the like, having a repeated color pattern throughout its length which comprises making a lap having. said longitudinal color pat tern by anassociationof transversely and parallelly arranged strands of differently colored slivers, reducing said lap to fleece'in which the transversely striped characteristic of said color pattern is preserved, and spinning yarn from rovings formed from longi. tudinal slittings of said striped fleece.v

4:. The process of making; colored yarn, or the like, characterized by a plurality of colors that are selectively grouped throughout its length toform a repeatedcolor pattern which comprises forming a lap of differently colored slivers which is characterized by a longitudinal succession of parallel transverse stripes in the order that forms the selected color pattern for the yarn, carding said lap to produce transversely striped fleece, slitting the fleece through its succession of stripes and rubbing into rovings, and spinningthe rovings into yarn.

5. The process of making yarn, or the like, characterized by an alternation of colors throughout its length, each color section being of substantial length and said sections being divided from each other by a relatively abrupt change of color which conr prises forming a lap of parallelly associated slivers characterized longitudinally by the alternation of colors that is to be reproduced in the yarn, carding said lap, producing rovings from longitudinal slittings ol' the fleece, and spinning yarn from said rovings.

6. The process of making yarn, or the like, characterized by an alternation of colors throughout its length, each color section being of substantial length and said sections being divided from each other by a relatively abrupt change of color Which comprises forming a lap of slivers characterized by transverse stripes produced by associating strands of slivers in parallel relation to form alternate stripes of the colors to be exhibited by the yarn, Widening the stripes by carding the lap, slitting the fleece through its transversely arranged stripes and rubbing into rovings, and spinning the rovings into yarn.

7. The process of making yarn, or the like, characterized by an alternation of colors throughout its length, each color section being of substantial length and said sections being divided from each other by a relatively abrupt change of color which comprises forming a lap of parallelly associated slivers characterized by oblique stripes across the lap, the longitudinal color pattern being that which is to be reproduced in the yarn, carding the lap to produce fleece having definite transverse oblique stripes, slitting the fleece diagonally through its succession of stripes and rubbing into rovings, and spinning the rovings into yarn.

8. The process of making yarn, or the like, characterized by an alternation of colors throughout its length, each color section being of substantial length and said sections being divided from each other by a relatively abrupt change of color which comprises forming a lap of slivers by feeding two slivers of different colors to the teed guide of a finisher card and retaining them side by side in parallel relation While being laid across the feed belts whereby said lap exhibits transverse stripes alternating in color and each stripe consisting of two parallel slivers, carding said lap to produce fleece having definite transverse stripes, slitting the fleece dofled from the card through the succession of transverse stripes and rubbing into rovings, and spinning the rovings into yarn.

HENRY B. GLOXV. HARRY L. CLOVV. 

